ECB Plans to Revive Five-Match Test Series Beyond India and Australia
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) plans to develop five-match Test series which will extend outside traditional pairings with India and Australia through reported information from The Telegraph. The planned initiative focuses on Test cricket popularity restoration during seasons when ‘big three’ teams do not play each other.
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Pakistan and South Africa Targeted for Extended Series
The ECB sees Pakistan and South Africa as its main focus for five-match Test series after the Australian and Indian matchups in 2028 in between multiple Test periods. The ECB has chosen the five-match format because they believe it will bring the desired transformative changes needed in Test cricket.
Three countries make up most of the five-match test series lineup – Australia and England alongside India. The rest of the Test-playing nations organize contests that span two to three games. The longest Test cricket series extending beyond three matches post-2019/20 belongs to England after they defeated South Africa 3-1 during that period.
The ECB has decided to organize a single extended series together with a single or two-match series against different opponents starting from 2028. The implemented six Test format for 2028 serves as a strategy to raise the status of Test cricket according to English cricket authorities. Over the years the ECB has faced difficulties attracting fans when Test teams Australia and India do not visit for matches thereby resorting to organize limited-over matches with these nations in those periods.
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The ECB’s primary source of revenue comes from Test cricket matches as English stadiums sell out for every Test staged in United Kingdom. As a strategy to keep cricket financially sustainable and popular during non-India and non-Australia seasons the authorities made these organizational changes.
